Comparison of Obesity Indices in Predicting Diabetes Mellitus, Heart Disease, Chronic Kidney Disease, and High Blood Pressure among Adults in Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

: There has been evolving evidence that waist-to-height ratio (WtHR) may be a better obesity index compared to body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). We would like to compare the performance of those indices in identifying the risk of several chronic diseases among the adult population in Kalimantan, Indonesia. This is a cross-sectional study using data from the latest Basic Health Research (Riskesdas). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the odds ratios (OR) relating three obesity indices (BMI, WC, and WtHR) to diabetes mellitus (DM), heart disease, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and high blood pressure (HBP). High WtHR (>0.5) was found to have significant relationships with the aforementioned diseases. Among the investigated indices, high WtHR had the highest OR in relation to DM (3.365; 95% CI 2.707-4.182), CKD (1.935; 95% CI 1.309-2.861), and HBP (2.008; 95% CI 1.866-2.160). Its OR for heart disease (1.549; 95% CI 1.247-1924) was just slightly lower than the OR of high WC (1.589; 95% CI 1.277-1.979). Meanwhile, BMI was significant only for DM and HBP. High BMI consistently showed the lowest OR values among the three indices. These results suggest that chronic diseases can be predicted better by the measurement of WtHR.